Until Now
by butimbroken
Summary: Buffy/Angel. After a night of too many drinks, Buffy wakes up in her boss' bed. Mature Themes. AU. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**Don't Own A Thing. Trying To Think Of A Better Name But For Now This Will Just Have To Do.**

"Oh, my God," Buffy whispered harshly, her eyes all but bugging right out of her head as she stared at the still sleeping man beside her in the large, unfamiliar bed. Feeling as though she was going to start hyperventilating at any given second, Buffy looked away, closed her eyes and tried to block out all the thoughts and feelings flooding her. It seemed to work, even if just a little. At least, until she opened them back up and found her eyes meeting with her own naked body. She breathed out a string of curses while grabbing at the sheets and puling them over her. One hand continued to clutch the silk to her chest with all of her might while the other flew up to her mouth, muffling any more noise trying to escape.

Staring intently, Buffy scooted her body away from him, to the point of almost falling right off the side of the bed. The hand over her mouth fell down once she felt the slightest of calm return, only to go to the base of her throat, wrapping around the painfully tight column, before giving it a squeeze... as though that was somehow going to help matters. Her jaw clenched to the point of pain but she held on for what seemed close to forever before finally letting go. Her hand remained wrapped around her throat, just loosened.

Swallowing, which was quite the task, Buffy gave her partner in last night's dirty activities another look over, blushing as she traveled lower, her eyes drinking in his uncovered manhood and beyond. She hurried lower, skipping to his knees then sliding down to his feet. Once finished, she gave his face another quick glance before looking away, staring straight ahead and taking a few long breaths.

Looking around the large room, Buffy found herself flooded in relief when she spotted an article of clothing, her shirt, it seemed, down on the floor, barely sticking out from the corner of the large bed. Now she just had to get to it, then get out of here.

Another blush took over the blonde's face as she reached for her shirt, her eyes catching over to the side where her bra laid, draped carelessly from the arm of the chair to the side and down to the floor. She cursed under her breath and crawled in a hurry over to it, putting it on even faster, followed by her shirt. After she finished, Buffy gave another glance upward toward the bed before crawling around some more until she found her skirt. Buffy had been more than sure the door had been closed last night, staring at it memories, though fuzzy, hit her. Memories of being pinned between it and the hard male body just a few feet away, memories of her back being slammed into it while undressed her, kissing her with blinding passion, memories of using the damn thing for support when he knelt to the ground, hooked her legs over his shoulders and... Buffy shook her head. Going there, a bad, bad idea. In any event, just outside the door is where she found her skirt and quickly shimmied it on.

Buffy's eyes searched frantically for her panties, her mind sought out some hint too but it wasn't being any more helpful at the moment. Sighing, she crept back to the bedroom, deciding to give it another quick look. "Shit, shit, shit," she breathed when nothing more turned up. Catching her reflection in the mirror over his dresser, Buffy cursed again then covered her mouth with both hands. Her eyes looked on in horror at what she saw, and why exactly it was she was seeing it. She was about to start mentally chewing herself out for this whole thing when she heard her name.

"Buffy," the all too familiar voice called, softly, half muffled.

Buffy's head whipped to the side while the rest of her completely stilled. Her eyes closed and she gave a thanks to The Powers That Be after realizing he was just muttering in his sleep. Not wanting to take any more chances, she popped her eyes back open and then hurried back toward the door.

On her way to freedom, Buffy found one of her shoes. She didn't give all that much effort any more into looking for the missing pieces of her outfit but glanced quickly as she moved. Reaching the door, she also found her purse laid out on the small table next to it. The small bag was tipped over, some of the contents on the floor which she quickly grabbed up and threw back inside before picking it up and grabbing at the door handle.

Moments later, Buffy had hailed down a cab, climbed in and set off toward her own home. She did her best to ignore the dirty, leering, knowing looks coming from her driver. In fact, she did her best to ignore everything.

OoOoO

"Are you just getting in?"

Buffy sighed, closing the door behind her. Part of her was glad Willow, her friend, co-worker, roommate and beyond was still here but the other part of her had really been hoping she'd already left for work this morning. "Yeah," she grumbled out.

Willow turned again, giving her a quick look, the kind where you don't actually notice anything then went back to grabbing up her last minute items she'd need for the day.

Buffy rubbed her eyes, slowly walking toward her friend, plopping herself ungracefully onto the small stool before letting her head drop to the counter with quite the thud.

This got Willow's attention, she stopped what she was doing and narrowed her eyes at the blonde. "You look like a mess," she commented, though right now all she could really see was the blonde's tangled hair and a bobbing shoeless foot from around the corner of the small kitchen island.

Buffy nodded, her head turning slightly, her eyes barely able to look up an meet her friends. "I slept with him."

Willow's face grew animated, a large smile slowly breaking across her face, her eyes widening, eyebrows arching, her whole entire being giving off sparks of excitement. "Him who?" she asked, hurrying closer. She pulled up a stool on the opposite side and practically threw the upper half of her body across the granite.

Buffy gave her friend the most pathetic look she could possibly muster. "Angel."

Somehow, Willow's eyes grew even bigger. And then, she laughed.

Buffy growled at her. "This is not funny! I slept with him! I had sex with him! With Angel! With my boss, your boss, our boss. Angel. Our boss. I, me, I had sex, dirty, dirty sex with him!"

Willow's hand came flying upward, snapping over her mouth and she had to duck her head down to the counter to try and hide the giggles. Not that it really worked. "How... did this happen?" she asked when she felt able to breathe.

Buffy glared still. This was not at all amusing to her. "I don't know," she answered, her head shaking some side to side. "I'm still a little fuzzy. There was alcohol involved."

Willow nodded, then ducked her head again as amusement took over her face once more. Trying her damnedest to keep a straight face, Willow looked up again. "So, how was it?"

Buffy's mouth fell open into an "o" shape then snapped shut. "Willow!"

Red laughed. "What! There's stories about him, as you well know!"

Buffy continued to blush.

"Was it good? Is he huge? Does he know how to do things you'd never even dreamed of? C'mon, spill! I want details!"

"Willow!" she repeated, her face the brightest shade of red. "I would happen to like some of those details back myself. And no, not sex details!" she clarified.

Willow laughed again. "Spill!"

"Don't you have work to get to?"

"Don't you?" Willow countered.

Buffy groaned. "God. Now I have to quit."

"You can't quit."

"I don't see any other choice."

"Stop being dramatic, that's my area of expertise. Call in, say you're running a little late, take a shower, eat some breakfast then I will see you soon, and I will pry all sorts of juicy details from you about your romp in the sack with a certain somebody we both know."

OoOoO

Angel knew he was alone before his eyes even opened. He knew that not only was she not in his bed, but she was no longer even at his place anymore. It was disappointing, though not surprising. Which that made it all the more disappointing too.

Slowly opening his eyes, Angel sighed, reaching his hand out to his alarm and turning it off. For several minutes, Angel just laid there, staring up at the ceiling. When his eyes slowly shut, memories of the night before hit him one after another making him groan. Without even thinking about it, one hand snaked down his body and began pumping his erection to the memory of a certain blonde's body having done just that some hours before.

Angel grunted her name as he came, spilling his sticky goo onto his hand which he wiped carelessly off onto his sheets. His eyes remained shut, still thinking of various moments from the night before, ignoring the pounding in his head, the need to wake up and get his day started, just about everything else. His hand reached for the pillow next to him and he brought it up to his face, breathing in the light scent left behind of the woman he'd bedded.

It didn't take long to get another rise out of him, forcing him to repeat his actions to find relief.

And once more in the shower.

As he got dressed, Angel wondered how in the hell he was supposed to get through this day. He'd barely been hanging on at the very thought of being with Buffy, now that he had... he didn't have a clue as to what was going to happen. Ever since he'd first been introduced to the girl, it was like she was all he could ever think about, only growing more with every passing day to the point he was really starting to worry about that old tale about jerking himself blind.

Climbing into his car, Angel chuckled as he noticed a pair of panties and a discarded shoe on the passengers side.

OoOoO

"Good morning, Mister O'Connor."

"Morning," he said, his eyes darting toward Buffy's desk which was missing all tell tale signs she was here or had been this morning.

"Buffy's not here."

Angel's head snapped back to the blonde who was not the blonde he wanted to see right now.

"She called in earlier, said she was running a little late this morning."

"Oh." 'Fuck,' he silently added. He hadn't even thought about the possibility of this side of the coin. "But she did say she was coming in, right?"

"Uhh... I guess?"

"Fuck," this time he swore out loud, though it was hushed. "Thanks."

Angel stopped at her desk before going to his own office, his hands running along her things. It was a little creepy, he was aware of that, even as he was doing it and then continued, but he couldn't help it. This girl was under his skin.

At the sound of a familiar voice, Angel's head popped up and he stared at Willow Rosenberg, Buffy's best friend and roommate. When their eyes met, he studied her and then smirked slightly. She knew. He knew that right away.

"Buffy's running a little late today," she called out, fighting a smile.

"So I've heard."

"Guess you managed to find her last night?"

Angel chuckled. "Thanks to you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, Well I Started This Chapter, And The Story Really, Believing I Was Going To Make This Into A Long, Multi-Chapter Fic But Then Halfway Through Writing This I Decided I'd Just Go Ahead And End It Here. I Didn't Want To Redo It All So Hopefully It Still Works. Maybe I'll Come Back To It Later. But I'm Trying Really Hard To Keep Away From Making Any New Really Long And Drawn Out Stories Until I Get At Least One Of The Ones Going Now Finished. We'll See What Happens Though.**

Buffy was a fidgeting mess as she stood in the elevator, cringing at every passing floor. Sooner or later it would come to a stop, she'd have to exit the safe box she was in, face whatever was going to come next.

"I should have just quit," she muttered.

She almost had, too. Before finally coming in, Buffy had sat on her bed, phone in hand, ready to just phone it in. Fate, once more, just was not on her side about certain things. Right before she'd begun dialing, it had rung, startling her, Willow was on the other end as though she'd somehow known what was going on and went about talking her out of it and into dragging her ass here. Or, rather, Willow had guilted her into coming in, using the knowledge of the large presentation and meeting Angel had set up for later this very afternoon against her. He needed her for it, not that she nor Willow were completely sure he'd allow her to be a part of it still, but Buffy knew she couldn't just abandon him like this.

Oh, but how she really wanted to.

Buffy didn't know what was going to happen now. She had a strong possibility it would be nothing good though. Her thoughts varied from the idea he'd fire her, humiliate, or avoid her and just about anything and everything in between.

As the elevator came to a slow stop, Buffy swallowed loudly. The dinging noise of the doors opening filled the small moving room, soon joined by bustling noise of the floor. She rubbed her lips together nervously, clutched the bag at her side and forced herself to take that first step forward.

"Oh. You're here."

Buffy stopped walking and turned her head.

"I was just about to bring Angel his latest messages," Harmony told her, holding out the neon colored post it notes. "Here you go."

Buffy looked at them then back to the blonde. "Hey Harm, could you do me a huge favor and take them in for me? I literally just got here and need to get my stuff straightened out."

Harmony frowned, her hand drooping some. This was certainly not of the norm. "Okay," she finally drawled out seeing Buffy wasn't going to explain anything more.

"Thanks," Buffy told her, attempting a smile.

"Not a problem!" Harmony replied, deciding to not care about the weirdness around her.

Together the walked, Harmony droning on about something or another, Buffy really wasn't paying much attention. If she or Angel, especially if mentioned together, was heard she'd snap to it but otherwise, she was just spaced out. When they reached Buffy's desk, they broke off, Buffy thanking her once more than sitting at her desk, trying to focus on the work at hand.

She'd barely even started pulling items from her bag when she stilled, feeling Angel's eyes on her. She swallowed, forced her hand to stop shaking, then looked up, locking eyes with him from where he sat at his own desk through the almost entirely glass wall of his office. Blinking, she quickly looked away from him and to the blonde doing a task she usually handled. Harmony had obviously just told him of her arrival and had been pointing her out, now she was smiling widely and waving back at her. Buffy forced out another smile, even threw a small wave of her own before looking away, pretending to go over the large stack of papers before her.

OoOoO

Entering his office, Buffy did everything possible to avoid looking at him. She threw a quick smile as her head turned and then rushed on her shaking legs over to a long table set up to the side and began laying out his things.

"Everything looks good," she forced out. "I mean, we looked over everything the other day and everything but I gave it another quick flip through and everything looks good. They're still setting up downstairs but it should be ready to go right after lunch they said."

"You weren't there this morning."

Buffy sucked in a breath. "I... uh, I was running a little behind but got here as fast as I could."

"That's not what I meant."

Buffy decided to ignore that.

A few moment later, Buffy heard the light sound of his chair moving, his footsteps going across the room, the door closing and the blinds being brought down over the large glass. When he came to her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her body back against his, Buffy's hands grabbed the edge of the table and fought not to faint. "Angel," she breathed as his hands left her waist to come rest against her lower belly, his nose nuzzling against her neck.

She heard him growl lightly, felt his lips connect with her flesh.

"What are you doing?"

She could feel his smirk. "Given the number of times we did this last night, I'd have figured you'd known that by now."

Buffy shivered against him, her head falling backwards as he suckled her neck. "Okay," she breathed out, "Why are you doing this then? You already won."

This time, it was Angel who stilled. He sighed then removed himself from her. Buffy groaned at the loss before trying to compose herself. Her hands slid down her outfit trying to smooth it out before she dared to turn and face him.

"Just because you have it in your head that I've been chasing after you as some sort of game doesn't make it true, Buffy," he spoke, a hard edge throughout.

"I've spent the entire year I've been here swearing I wasn't going to fall for this, fall into your sick little trap, become just another one of your stupid whores," Buffy whispered back, fighting the tears threatening to spill.

She jumped at the sound of glass shattering, her eyes quickly looking toward the flying shards. Her eyes darted back to Angel, watching as he took several steps away from her, a hand running through his currently too-long hair. "I have a past, I'm not going to deny that, but if you would just open your eyes then maybe you would see that things have changed since then. I wanted you from the second I laid eyes on you, wanted you so bad that I couldn't even think straight. You wouldn't give me the time of day, rightfully so, which was frustrating for me. And I tried to get you out of my system by using any other female body in my path, but it didn't work." He sighed and took to the closest chair. "After getting to know you, I more than just wanted you, I _wanted_ you. All of you. And I knew that if I was even going to dream of a chance, it wasn't going to be happening if I continued on as I had been. So I changed. For and because of you. I'm still me, I can't help that, but I'd like to think I'm a better version of whoever it is I am these days. But you... you just won't fucking budge will you? I know you've noticed, I know you're feelings changed, I've heard you and Willow talk about it, you know. But you just won't give even a little."

Buffy felt her whole body beginning to shake. "Angel..."

"I took advantage of you last night," he continued with a snort of laughter. "Yesterday was brutal, we all should have went out and got loaded. You probably had it the worst though, and I knew..." he sighed, rubbed a hand down his face. "I found out where you were and went after you, sat down beside you, refused to leave, kept buying us drink after drink. I knew what I was doing. Some part of me believes that you did too though. I couldn't convince you with my actions, my words... but I don't know... I thought maybe I could make you feel it. I don't know. In any event, I can't say I regret it or that if I had the chance to take it back that I would because last night you were mine, you were in my arms and in my bed, you were mine."

OoOoO

Angel was about to stand when suddenly Buffy was in front of him, pushing him back down into the chair. Slowly, his eyes traveled up her tempting body to her face, her eyes and he sucked in a breath at what he found in those very orbs. "Come here," he whispered and held out his hands to her, helping guide her into the chair with him.

Buffy's head laid against his chest, one of her tiny hands fisted loosely in his shirt. He closed his eyes, breathing in the moment. To him, there was not a single thing more perfect in the world than this, than having this tiny human being held against him.

"I think I'd like to listen now," he heard her whisper after many moments of silence had past, and suddenly Angel felt like his whole entire world had finally come together.


End file.
